Eddy Blondeel
| Edouard "Eddy" Blondeel | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Nickname(s) | Captain Blunt |
| Born |
25 January 1906 Ghent, Belgium |
| Died | 23 May 2000 (aged 94) Brussels, Belgium |
| Allegiance |
 Belgium
|
| Service/branch |
Free Belgian Forces Belgian Army |
| Years of service | 1929-1930 1939-1947 |
| Rank | Lieutenant-Colonel |
| Unit |
5th SAS 1st Parachute Battalion |
| Battles/wars | |
| Awards |
|
| Other work | Engineer |
Lieutenant-Colonel Dr. (Dent.) Edouard "Eddy" Blondeel DSO (25 January 1906 – 23 May 2000) was the wartime commander of the Belgian 5th SAS. After the war he was first C.O. of the 1st Regiment of Parachutists. He retired from the army in 1947 to work as an engineer with Wiggins Teape.
Eddy Blondeel was born in Ghent on 25 January 1906. He initially studied at the Deutsche Schule in Gent but in 1914 with the outbreak of World War I his parents no longer wanted him to be educated at a German school so he left and went to a Belgian state school which was bilingual (French/Dutch).
In his youth he had excelled at basketball, fencing and rowing and at the age of 13 he had taken up scouting, which he claimed helped develop his character. Before the Second World War he was appointed Commissioner of Scouts in the Flanders area of Belgium. Later he was to study Engineering at Ghent University and from these differing environments his linguistic abilities were developed.
He fulfilled his National Service in an Artillery Regiment, where he was promoted from private to sergeant in under a year.
After his time as a conscript he set up practice as an engineer, but felt he wanted to be more involved in serving people. In 1934 he decided to study medicine and specialize in dentistry. Hard work gained him a diploma with distinctions at the University of Brussels, and he won a scholarship that enabled him to continue his medical studies at Northwestern University near Chicago. He subsequently earned a doctorate in Dentistry.
...
Wikipedia